Why is BJP silent on Reddy brothers, asks Congress

Attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a day after Shashi Tharoor resigned from the government over the IPL row, the Congress Monday quesioned the “eloquent silence” of the opposition party on the allegations of corruption against the Reddy brothers, mining barons who are ministers in the BJP government in Karnataka.“The cabinet ministers in the BJP-led government in Karnataka are creating headlines for the wrong reasons and continuing corrupt practices in the Bellary issue. News reports based on facts, figures and investigations say it is day-light robbery,” Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi said here.He said BJP president Nitin Gadkari and senior leader L.K. Advani were maintaining “golden, eloquent silence” on the allegations against the Reddy brothers.Seeking to take a moral high ground on Tharoor’s resignation as minister of state for external affairs over allegations of corruption in allocation of sweat equity to his friend Sunanda Pushkar in the IPL Kochi franchise, Singhvi said the party had made no attempt to “avoid the issue or brush it under the carpet”.“There was no knee-jerk reaction. It was a considered and reasoned process… the Congress has not taken refuge in the adjudicatory judicial process,” he said.Asked if Tharoor’s resignation meant he was guilty, Singhvi said the decision to ask him to step down was taken based on prima facie view. He said the party had taken a larger view of the matter, and lauded the minister for submitting his resignation.Tharoor resigned Sunday after the Congress core group decided that he should not continue in office over allegations that he misused office to favour Pushkar.
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Chief Minister orders reduction of power cut to small and medium industries

Hyderabad, Apr 20 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah today directed the Energy Department and Power Utilities to immediately reduce the power cut for small and medium scale industries, including rice mills, keeping in view the marginal reduction in power demand in agriculture sector.

While reviewing the power supply position, in particular the gap between demand and supply with officials concerned, the Chief Minister emphasised the need to prevent hardships for the lakhs of industrial labour, particularly in small and medium scale industries.Recently as per the direction of the Chief Minister, the power utilities had reduced the power cuts from two to one-and-a half days to facilitate the industries.Mr Rosaiah had ordered further reduction of power cut from the present one-and-a half days to small and medium scale industries.Principal Secretary, Energy Department, Suthirtha Bhattacharya assured the Chief Minister that the direction would be implemented from today itself.The officials informed the Chief Minister that as far as Hyderabad Metropolitan city was concerned, the present peak demand of Greater Hyderabad was about 1,500 MW. As per the preliminary estimates, the planned demand of 5,000 MW upto 2019-20 in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority area includes industries loads projected by the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation for their industrial clusters at Hardware park, Mamidipally and IT Special Economic Zones at Manikonda and Rayadurg.The Chief Minister directed the Energy department and AP Power Utilities to come out with future demand for power well in advance even for industrial sector.He also reviewed power supply position for the domestic sector, reiterated that special efforts should continue to ensure that there were no interruptions, whatsoever, from 1800 hours to 0600 hours for domestic category consumers so as to help the students who were still writing examinations.
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Chandrababu Naidu turns 60,

Hyderabad, April 20: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) activists Tuesday organised blood donation camps and fed the poor in several places across Andhra Pradesh to mark the 60th birthday of party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu.Apart from these programmes, Naidu spent some time at Krushi Street children's home in Medchal block of Ranga Reddy district near here. The former chief minister inquired about the facilities available to the street children and deposited Rs.10,000 for each of the orphans. Speaking on the occasion, Naidu said he wished to see in his lifetime a society free of poverty. Mild tension prevailed during Naidu's visit to Medchal as some pro-Telangana activists tried to stop his convoy, demanding that he take a clear stand on the Telangana issue. Naidu, who comes from Chittoor district in Rayalaseema region, has not taken a clear stand either in support of or against separate statehood to Telangana region but has allowed party leaders from the region to air their views in favour of a separate state. A large number of party leaders and activists, meanwhile, reached his residence in Jubilee Hills here to greet Naidu. He cut a cake to celebrate the occasion with his followers and well-wishers. Naidu's brother-in-law N. Harikrishna, N. Balakrishna and other members of TDP founder N.T. Rama Rao's family greeted him. Naidu, who served as the chief minister for nearly a decade (1995-2004), began his political career in the Congress party and served as a minister in early 1980s and married thespian N.T. Rama Rao's daughter. He later joined the TDP floated by his legendary father-in-law in 1982. Unhappy with the interference of NTR's second wife Lakshmi Parvathi in party and government affairs, Naidu unseated him from power in August 1995 and became the chief minister. NTR, who had accused Naidu of back-stabbing him, died in January 1996. Naidu later firmed up his position, and came to be known as the CEO of Andhra Pradesh for introducing reforms in administration and for his pro-industry image.
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Srikrishna committee interacts with people on Telangana

Hyderabad, April 20: Two members of the Justice Srikrishna committee Tuesday interacted with a cross-section of the people in some villages of Andhra Pradesh's Kurnool district to elicit their opinion on the demand for separate statehood to Telangana region.On the second day of their field visit, Abu Saleh Shareef and Ravinder Kaur visited remote villages in Kurnool district of Rayalaseema region. They interacted with farmers, women self-help groups and youth to know their views on the Telangana issue. Assisted by translators, the two members of the committee posed various questions to the people to elicit their opinion. They had Monday visited some villages in Mahabubnagar district of Telangana and interacted with the people. While an overwhelming majority of the people they interacted in Mahabubnagar district wanted a separate Telangana, the opinion in Kurnool district was divided. Shareef, an authority in food security at the International Food Policy Research Institute, and Kaur, a professor of humanities at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, visited some houses in Veldurti Mandal of Kurnool district to meet women and sought their views. In both the districts, they went around the villages, received representations and wanted to know how a separate Telangana state would impact their lives. Unlike in Mahabubnagar district where the committee members were greeted with protests by some pro-Telangana groups, their visit to Kurnool district was a smooth affair. At Kollampally hamlet, the tribals welcomed them in their traditional way. This was the first field visit by the Srikrishna committee, constituted by the central government in February this year to look into the demands for and against separate statehood to Telangana. Kaur told reporters that the committee would visit all parts of the state over the next three months to elicit people's opinion and study their problems. The five-member panel, headed by retired judge of the Supreme Court, Justice B.N. Srikrishna, has so far received over 60,000 representations from various political and non-political groups from all three regions -- Telangana, Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra. The committee last week began consultations with political parties. The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) was the first to present its arguments in favour of a separate Telangana state. Actor-turned-politician K. Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party (PRP), which is opposing the demand, will make its presentation before the committee here Thursday. Though the central government has asked the committee to submit its report by the year-end, the panel is hopeful of completing the process of consultations by the end of July and submit its report before its term ends. The panel was constituted after Andhra Pradesh was rocked by a series of protests for and against a Telangana state following the Dec 9 statement by Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram that the process for formation of Telangana state would be initiated. He had made the statement after an 11-day fast by TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao.
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Shoaib Malik given back his passport by Hyderabad Police

Hyderabad, Apr.20 : A day after the Andhra Pradesh High Court directed the concerned agencies to return Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik's passport, the all rounder finally received his travel document back on Tuesday (April 20.)According to Malik's lawyer Muhammed Javed, his client has received his passport back, and would return to Pakistan soon with his newly married wife Sania Mirza.On Monday, the Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed all cases against Shoaib, and ordered the police to return his passport.The court also said that Shoaib and Sania are free to visit Pakistan whenever they want.Earlier on April 5, Shoaib had handed over his passport and mobile phone to the Hyderabad Police, after an investigation team questioned him on a complaint filed by his first wife Ayesha Siddiqui's father Mohammed Siddiqui.Acting on Siddiqui's complaint, police had asked Shoaib not to leave the city without their permission, and also alerted immigration officials.The decision to dismiss all cases comes after Shoaib divorced Ayesha on April 7.After the divorce, Shoaib and Sania finally exchanged the marital vows on April 12.
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